This invention relates to exercise devices and more particularly to a novel device for developing and strengthening the human finger, thumb, hand, wrist, arm, shoulder, chest and back muscles.
A principal object of this invention is to provide an exercise device especially designed to develop and strengthen the muscles used in gripping an object with the fingers and thumb curled around the object, such as a baseball bat handle, oar handle, pliers, and the like or the muscles used in gripping an object with the fingers curled around and the thumb extended somewhat along the object, such as a golf club handle or a racquet handle. Another principal object is to provide an exercise device having the same characteristics as the foregoing especially designed to develop and strengthen the wrist, arm, shoulder, chest, and back muscles used in performance of exercising motions consisting of compressing said device between the palm portions of the hands. Another principal object is to provide an exercise device having the same characteristics as the foregoing with its component parts especially designed to impart to said device structural unity and stability, whether said device is at rest, in motion, or being used or handled; to preclude the necessity of incorporating into the construction of said device any fastener, any fastening material or mechanism, any embedment of any component part, or any interference fit of component parts; and to permit repeated disassembly and reassembly of said device without the use of any tool, device, material, or non-human energy, and without alteration or modification of any component part.
Another principal object is to provide an exercise device having the same characteristics as the foregoing especially designed to have separate supplemental component parts which, when assembled onto said device, increase the ability of said device to resist the forces exerted on it by the user in performance of exercising motions. Another principal object is to provide an exercise device having the same characteristics as the foregoing with its component parts and its said separate supplemental component parts especially designed to impart to the assembly consisting of said device and said supplemental component parts structural unity and stability, whether said assembly is at rest, in motion, or being used or handled; to preclude the necessity of incorporating into the construction of said supplemental component parts or into said assembly any fastener, any fastening material or mechanism, any embedment of any component part, or any interference fit of any component parts; and to permit repeated disassembly and reassembly of said assembly and said device without the use of any tool, device, material, or nonhuman energy, and without alteration or modification of any component part.
Other objects are to provide hand size accommodation, provide simplicity and facility of use, and provide utility and versatility.
According to the present invention, the exercise device comprises a thumb handle and a fingers handle spaced apart therefrom and parallel thereto, each having near each end a radial cavity with said cavities spaced a lesser distance apart along the fingers handle than along the thumb handle. Each end portion of each handle carries a peripheral sleeve having a perforation aligned axially with and being a continuant of the cavity. The middle portion of each handle carries a loose circumambient peripheral pad having on one side a row of external serpentinely profiled nubs at spaced intervals therealong. The valleys between the nubs accept the digits, and each pad is rotatable about its axis shared with its handle to any desired position around the handle. The handles are connected by a pair of spaced apart main torsion springs, each of whose one divergent lever end extends through a sleeve perforation and into a thumb handle radial cavity, whose other divergent lever end extends through a sleeve perforation and into a fingers handle radial cavity, and whose loop portion is external the plane of the handles and slightly askew but essentially transverse the handles. Each main torsion spring carries a keeper about its midsection intermediate its lever end and its loop portion. An arcuate peripheral groove radial the handle axis and facing the other handle is provided in each thumb handle sleeve proximate the perforation and spaced therefrom equidistantly toward the midpoint of the handle and provided in each fingers handle sleeve proximate the perforation, spaced therefrom equidistantly toward the end of the handle, and situated opposite a thumb handle sleeve groove. At each end of the device the arcuate grooves accept and carry the arcuate divergent lever ends of a separate supplemental torsion spring, which when thusly assembled onto the handle sleeves lies transverse the handles and either straddled by or astride a main torsion spring. Preferably a main torsion spring straddles a separate supplemental torsion spring. Preferably each main torsion spring is uniplanar freestanding, and preferably the angle formed by its divergent lever ends is obtuse.
The objects of my invention will become apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings.